This invention concerns a system and a method for adjusting the control parameters of an onboard electronic control device of an automotive vehicle in view of a journey or a type of journey.
Onboard electronic control devices are used on automotive vehicles, in particular on trucks, in order to control equipments or sub-systems such as an internal combustion engine, a gear box or an after-treatment unit which cleans the exhaust gases. Parameters to be used by such an onboard electronic device are usually set in the vehicle manufacturer factory with average values. Such average values are not optimized in view of a predetermined journey or type of journey to be made with a vehicle. It is known from U.S. Pat. No. 6,665,606 to send from a server some data to an onboard electronic control unit in order to bring back a specific engine in line with statistic mean parameters. It is also known from U.S. Pat. No. 6,487,717 to upgrade an engine electronic control unit via the Internet, with the possibility to optimize a truck engine according to its region of operation.
In some cases, a driver or a fleet manager wishes to emphasize one aspect of the panning conditions of a vehicle, in particular a truck, on a given journey or type of journey. For instance, if during a given journey a truck is supposed to cross a country where anti-pollution regulations are very strict, a fleet manager might wish to optimize the level of CO2, NOx or soot emissions. Alternatively, the fleet manager might consider fuel consumption on a given journey, i.e. for a specific duty-cycle, as an essential issue. For safety reasons, it can also be useful to consider the maximum speed of a truck during a given journey as a key point. The driver might consider that the trip time is an essential feature of his journey. Known systems and methods do not allow to take such wishes into account.
This invention aims at providing a system and a method which are efficient to customize the running conditions of a vehicle, in particular a truck, in order to adapt such running conditions to a given journey or type of journey and to a specific constraint chosen by a user which can be a fleet manager or a driver, for example.
To this purpose, the invention concerns a system for adjusting the control parameters of an onboard electronic control device of an automotive vehicle in view of a journey or type of journey, characterized in that said system includes: computation means adapted to generate a set of control parameters to be used by said electronic control device, and input means adapted to allow a user to provide said computation means with data relating to said journey or type of journey and to at least one constraint to be considered as having priority during said journey or type of journey.
Thanks to the invention, the user can input into the computation means some information with respect to a specific constraint to be followed during a given journey or type of journey, which allows the onboard electronic control device to control the equipments and systems of the vehicle in a way which guarantees that the specific constraint is fulfilled. For instance, if the user considers the fuel consumption as a constraint having priority for one given journey, he/she can forward the corresponding information, via the input means, to the computation means which will generate a set of control parameters optimizing the fuel consumption of the vehicle for this journey, once loaded in its electronic control device. Optimization of the fuel consumption can be obtained by modifying the parameters of the fuel injection system and/or the gear ratio of an automatic or robotized gear box.
According to further aspects of the invention, an adjusting system—might incorporate one or several of the following features:—The system includes data collection means with respect to the vehicle and means to provide the computation means with this vehicle data.                The computation means are located remotely from the vehicle and the system also includes communication means between the input means and the computation means. In such a case, the computation means advantageously include several models corresponding to several vehicles and they are adapted to select one model on the basis of data relating to the vehicle.        Alternatively, the computation means are located onboard the vehicle and dedicated to the vehicle.        The computation means include a data base storing information used by the computation means to simulate the journey or type of journey, on the basis of the journey/type of journey data received from the input means.        The input means comprise a personal computer forming a user interface, this computer having communication means with the computation means and/or with the vehicle or including the computation means.        The system includes means for direct data exchange between the vehicle and the computation means.        
This invention also concerns a method for adjusting the control parameters of an onboard electronic control device of an automotive vehicle in view of a journey or type of journey, characterized in that it comprises at least the following steps of: a) collecting data with respect to the vehicle, b) collecting data with respect to the journey or type of journey, c) collecting data with respect to at least one constraint to be considered as having priority, d) providing computation means with the collected data, e) generating with said computation means, a set of control parameters for said onboard control device, said parameters being dedicated to said journey or type of journey and giving priority to said constraint, and f) loading said onboard control device with said set of control parameters.
According to further aspects of this invention, this method might incorporate one or several of the following features:                The vehicle data collected in step a) include a vehicle identification number corresponding to a set of data present in a database belonging to the computation means.        The vehicle data collected in step a) include data retrieved from the vehicle control device.        All the vehicle data collected in step a) are provided to said computation means via an interface computer. As an alternative, at least a part of the vehicle information data collected in step a) is sent directly from the vehicle to the computation means.        After step e), the computation means send the set of control parameters to an interface computer and this set of control parameters is loaded into the onboard control device from this interface computer. Alternatively, after step e), the set of        
control parameters is sent directly by the computation means to the onboard control device.                The constraint to be considered as having priority is selected from fuel consumption, journey time, average speed, maximum speed, maximum acceleration, noise levels, emission levels and maintenance interval forecast.        During step e), the computation means build a model of the journey or type of journey on the basis of the data collected in step b) and of information contained in at least one database.        During step e), the computation means build a model of the vehicle on the basis of the data collected in step a) and of information contained in at least one database. In such a case, this database preferably includes data collected from a vehicle manufacturer and/or from a vehicle maintenance system.        